Manifestos at Midnight
Olivia found him in the study, clad only in the pants he had worn to bed, the bones of his spine visible as he sat hunched over the desk. She yawned as she approached him, rubbing the sleep from her eyes and blinking them in rapid succession to better focus her vision.
"Usually when you go to bed, you stay there until you get up in the morning," she rasped, mouth still dry from sleep.
"I couldn't sleep," Anders simply responded, continuing to scrawl away at his manifesto.
"Nightmare?" At her question he stopped writing, releasing a weary sigh. Stepping up behind him, she bent over and draped her arms over his shoulders, nestling her face beside his. "You should have woken me up."
"I didn't want to disturb you," he murmured, his hand finding one of hers, lacing their fingers together.
"Well, I'm awake now."
Anders huffed, his lips curling into the tiniest of smiles. She planted a kiss on his neck, just under his ear, then worked her mouth up and over his jawline until he turned to meet her lips with his, their kiss slow and deep.
When they parted for air, a full smile graced his lips, and she couldn't help but smile back. Pressing a quick kiss to his cheek, Olivia stood up straight and dragged another chair beside his. She tugged up the hem of the shirt that she wore—his shirt—and plopped down beside him, resting her bare legs on the desk as she got comfortable.
"So, let me hear what you've written since last time," she said, turning her attention to him.
Anders stared at her a moment, still smiling, the dim candlelight casting a soft glow on his face before she quirked an eyebrow at him. He tore his gaze from her and cleared his throat before beginning to read to her, the smooth cadence of his voice a pleasant sound to her ears.
Come morning, Leandra found the two mages collapsed on the desk, sound asleep, ink smudged on their hands and faces, a pile of crumpled parchment littering the floor around them. She simply smiled and quietly left, leaving them to get some much needed sleep.